A Game of Cat and Mouse
by AlexAmericus
Summary: FFNet hasn't made a CreepyPasta fandom yet, so I have to post it here. I'm writing my own CreepyPasta, I've had this idea for several months and I finally decided to act on it. My character is still an OC, so that's why I'm calling this a fanfiction. Criticism is more than welcome, as I am still new to this kind of thing. This is rated 'T' for swearing and mild violence.
1. Day One

**Day One**

_"All residents are advised by the Hood River Police Department to not wander aimlessly through the streets at night, as this unknown assailant has been described as extremely armed and dangerous. They will make a public announcement when it is safe to roam the streets again."_

Liam switched off his old television and sighed in annoyance, nothing has been on the news since this new unknown assailant came to Hood River, Oregon. Rubbing his face in exasperation, he thought bitterly about how he thought he had left this kind of thing when he abandoned his hometown Portland for a smaller township on the river. He wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, he wanted to escape all of the crime, most of all he wanted to be close to the river and the forest. After all, how could he pursue his career as a wildlife biologist is he wasn't anywhere near wildlife? Now that this new dilemma has come up, he won't be able to roam around the neighboring river shore and forest without someone on the street telling him that it was dangerous. Just great, just...wonderful.

Liam pushed himself off his old sofa and wandered into the kitchen, craving something to eat for dinner. He opened the fridge and quickly browsed through his sparse choices of food: leftover turkey he got from his friend after Thanksgiving, leftover pasta, some lunchmeat, a few vegetables here and there. Grabbing the turkey, pasta and some vegetables, he just decided that he'll attempt to make some soup. Sure, he wasn't the best cook in the world, but he had enough knowledge to help him survive on his own.

He set a pot of water on his stove to boil while he cut up the vegetables and turkey. He had switched the television back on to entertain himself while he was waiting for everything to cook. He decided to instead watch the crime show _Forensic Files_ instead of the rerun news. Liam didn't know why he was drawn to these shows, he found them interesting in a way; like trying to figure out puzzles. He always wondered what went through a murderers head while they were killing or what drove them to kill someone. His thoughts flashed back to the news report, the new serial killer of Hood River.

The unknown assailant, as police had announced, wasn't like any other. As if this sleepy town had seen many criminals. Apparently this assailant 'played' with their victims before leaving them alone suddenly. What that meant, Liam didn't know, and the police weren't talking. He had begun to wonder if maybe this criminal was male, and maybe raped this victims. No, that wasn't it. The assailant's choice of victims was indiscriminate, both men and women were targeted. Hell, there had even been a report where a person's _dog_ had been targeted the same way several human victims were, which didn't make any sense at all and even baffled the chief of police who had previously worked in Houston, Texas. Family members and friends of the victims had reported that the victim had become extremely paranoid, and sometimes even aggressive, claiming that someone or something had been following them for a while. Some had even stated that the victim occasionally had scratch or slight bite marks, or that they had been left vague notes saying that they 'weren't done with them' or they 'were going to come back soon.'

The whole thing confused not only Liam and other residents of Hood River, but the police and detectives working the case as well. Who the hell was this person, and did they get some kind of sick thrill off of driving their victims insane? They most likely did, thought Liam, they probably got some kind of sick power trip off their victim's reaction.

Liam shook his head at his own perverted thoughts and angrily shut off the T.V. again, not wanting anything to do with violence, mystery, rape, gore, or murder anymore. He waited in stiff silence as he waited for the soup to finish cooking, calmly stirring the contents of the pot occasionally to try and get his mind off the morbid matter.

When the soup had finally finished about twenty minutes after he had shut off the T.V., Liam sat down at his cheap dining table and carefully tasted the soup. It wasn't as bland or disgusting as he thought it would turn out; it did have a little bit too much salt though. Liam shrugged, making a mental note for the next time he decided to try and make his own soup.

_Tap. Tap._

Liam looked up from his food: was someone at the door? Couldn't be, it was almost nine o'clock, much too late to be visiting anyone. Still, hearing the taps was a little weird.

_Tap. Tap._

There they were again. Liam stood up and went to his front door, opened it, and looked out into the hallway of his apartment complex. No one was tapping on the walls outside the apartments, in fact, no one was even in the hallway. Was someone screwing with him and throwing small rocks at his window? Liam shut and locked his door and walked over to the window facing the street below. He opened the window and looked out into the street, there were only a few people rushing to their cars leaving their shifts at the neighboring restaurants. Shutting the window again and walked over to the other window that faced toward the apartment complex's parking garage. Between the complex itself and the parking garage were a few trees, maybe one of the branches was tapping at the glass from the slight nightly breeze. Opening the window, Liam came to the conclusion that it wasn't the trees tapping against his window as they were too far away. Looking down, he didn't see anyone on the sidewalk below the window that could've been throwing rocks at his window.

Out of the corner of his eye, Liam saw something out of the ordinary. He looked out toward the parking garage and on the first floor he saw someone standing on the wall. At first, Liam thought they were going to jump off, only to hit the unforgiving pavement about fifteen feet down. The figure just stood there though, not moving. The lighting in the parking garage was dim, and the person was wearing a large hooded jacket to protect themselves from the bitter December wind, so Liam couldn't really see who the person was. He gathered that they were probably homeless though, from the way their clothes hung loosely from their body.

Liam took a chance, and called out to the person, "Hey!"

The figure lifted its head ever so slightly.

Liam continued, "Did you see anyone throwing rocks at my window by any chance?" He knew it was a long shot that this strange man (or woman) knew, but there was no sense in not trying.

The figure lifted its head a little more and slowly shook its head side to side.

Disappointed, but expecting the answer, Liam said, "Just wondering. Sorry to bother you." Liam pulled his head back into his apartment, but before he could close his window he had looked up back toward the garage and saw something...disturbing.

The figure had raised its head completely, and in the dim light Liam could make out that it was grinning widely. The eyes are what put him off most of all though, the fact that he could see them from his vantage point, the fact that they looked much larger than normal human eyes, and...the fact that they seemed to have a yellowish glow to them - like a dying flashlight. Liam's eyes widened as he quickly shut the window and closed the curtains. He backed away from the window until he was in the middle of his living room.

"What...the fuck?" Liam whispered. What had he just seen? Was he hallucinating? No. He couldn't be. He wasn't on any medication, nor he did ever take any illicit drugs at any point in his life. What was that...thing? It looked human, but those eyes. They reminded him so much of the headlights of a car. Bracing himself for the worst, he carefully edged back over to the window and peeked out of the curtains. The thing was still there, and Liam could still see their eyes, only this time they were thin slits, almost as if the figure was angry at Liam for hastily shutting his window and curtains. Their grin had disappeared, too, and in its place was a wicked, twisted grimace. Its lip was curled over its teeth how a feral junkyard dog would when someone trespassed on its territory. Whatever this thing was, it looked as if Liam had angered it.

Liam closed his curtains again and silently slid back over to his dining table, desperately trying to convince himself that it was just some demented teenager playing a prank on him. He couldn't shake the look on that thing's face though, one moment it looked like he was staring at the face of The Joker's demonic cousin, the next it looked as if this thing was going to leap across the twenty foot gap and slit his throat. Liam forced himself to finish up the remains of his dinner; the events had made him lose his appetite but he didn't want the perfectly good food to go to waste. He washed up his dishes and placed them in the dishwater, occasionally glancing warily over to the window where he saw the wicked thing.

He stood there standing in his kitchen for a few minutes before his own curiosity got the better of him. He tiptoed back over to the window and slowly parted the curtains enough for him to peek outside. He scanned the entire wall of the first floor of the parking garage with the dim light it area provided. The figure was gone.

Liam sighed in relief that whoever was trying to play a prank on him decided it would be better to head back home instead of staying outside and freeze to death. He backed away from the window and began to turn off all the lights of his apartment and get ready of bed. He had both work and classes tomorrow, and he was also planning on exploring the nearby woods after he got his work done for school just to unwind for the day. It was going to be busy tomorrow, better to get some rest and not worry about what was outside. It didn't matter anyway.

Outside, the mysterious figure crawled out of its hiding place from the bushes.

"Playtime."


	2. Day Two

**Day Two**

Liam worked the early morning shift at a local convenience store. His shift started at three in the morning every other day. Afterwards, he quickly went home, took a shower, and travelled to school for his afternoon classes that went on until four. He had Advanced Biology and Ecology today, the two subjects that came the easiest to him. Every other one of his classes mentally drained him until he just wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there until the next week.

Since nobody went to the store at three in the morning, Liam was stuck with restocking the shelves while a couple of other coworkers that braved the shift with him were stuck cleaning the store floor and bathrooms. He did not envy them, he had seen what they had to put up with, he had cleaned it up too. Let's just say that some people just didn't acknowledge that breathing human beings cleaned those rooms. Luckily, the early morning manager had recognized Liam's organizational skills and charged him mostly with restocking the shelves before the store opened at eight, much to the chagrin of his coworkers.

The store wasn't that large, it was a family owned business that took pride in providing predominantly organic foods. Most of the health nuts or those with some money to burn shopped here.

Liam moved his giant transport cart to the produce section of the store where his friend and coworker Maria was mopping the floor.

"Careful, might still be slippery." Maria warned him.

"I'll be fine," Liam assured, "Did you catch that news report last night?"

Maria made a strangled noise, "How could I not? It's all my parents have on nowadays." Maria was still in high school, so she had the deal with her parents and elder siblings having priority over the television remote. "Why'd you ask?"

"Just wondering," Liam shrugged as he placed the apples precariously on top of one another, pausing for a couple seconds each time to make sure they wouldn't fall over onto the hardwood floor, "Same old stuff, huh? They haven't covered anything else since October."

"What'd you expect?" Maria looked up at Liam and shook her head, "Hood River never sees any action, so some weirdo stalking a bunch of people is something that's going to be covered probably until they're caught." Maria laughed as she added, "This isn't Portland."

"Even Portland didn't see stuff as serious as this," Liam countered, "this is stuff you'd more likely see in L.A. or N.Y.C."

"I guess," Maria sighed, "Well, I've got to get back to mopping this stupid floor. You know, you are one lucky son of a gun to almost never get stuck with cleaning."

"Don't jinx me." Liam smiled. With that, their conversation ended, and both of them resumed their work before their manager could accuse them of slacking. Liam's mind wandered back to last night's events as Maria retreated to the back room to help another coworker move something heavy, leaving him alone.

"I can't help but think about what happened," Liam spoke softly to himself, "and what the hell that _thing_ could've been." He shook his head, "No, not thing. It was just some idiot playing a prank, that's all it was." He continued to restock the fresh fruits and vegetables while everyone else buzzed around him trying to get their jobs daily jobs done before the store opened. No matter how hard he tried though, Liam still keep thinking about that person's horrible, angry face.

Five hours had passed since the start of the shift, and Liam was at the front of the store bagging groceries for the customers. It was a rather tedious job, and Liam hated the repeated actions of saying hello to the customers with a fake smile, bagging their groceries, and asking them if they wanted help getting the stuff in their car. It paid the bills though, and some of his tuition. Despite having a job and a couple of scholarships, Liam was still in the hole and had to take out some loans. He hoped those problems would disappear once he got his degree and a real job though.

He was bagging an elderly woman's groceries while she happily chatted to the cashier about the weather and her plans for dinner that night. Liam caught a few words, she was having friends over for dinner and was going to cook a nice meal for them before some of them left town to spend time with their families in different states. He had just finished bagging when the cashier asked the woman if she wanted any help carrying her bags out. Liam was a little too focused on getting the last few items to fit in one bag to notice that he had nearly missed to ask.

"Yes, I would appreciate that, thank you very much." The woman smiled at the cashier as he turned to Liam.

"You mind Liam?" The cashier, named Derek, asked, "I can hold down the fort here while you're helping her out."

"Sure," Liam replied a little too quickly as he took the cart from the old woman and began to walk out the store with her.

"My car's just right over there," The woman pointed to an old gray sedan relatively close to the store doors, "Thank you for helping me, Liam."

While Liam never remembered the regular customer's names, like this woman, they seemed to know everything about him including his major and even what apartment complex he lived in. It weirded him out just a little, but he knew they didn't mean anything by it. It wasn't like Little Miss...What's-Her-Name...was going to break into his apartment in the middle of the night and steal all his valuables.

"It's no trouble at all, Miss...uh..." Liam fumbled for a name.

The old woman laughed, "It's alright, my last name isn't worth remembering. Too hard to say. Just call me Doris."

"Doris." Liam validated, he'd have to remember that for the next time she came by the store. At this point they had reached her car and he started putting groceries in her trunk as soon as she opened the door. As he was placing the groceries in the particular way he had learned during training, Doris kept happily chirping about her day and how she was happy to have some help. Liam faded in and out of the conversation, occasionally saying small things to prove that he was listening at least a little bit. He had just placed the last bag in her trunk and was about to close the trunk when he looked over Doris' head toward the main road. What he saw sent a slight shiver down his spine.

A person, in a oversized hooded jacket, the hood pulled up over their head, and wearing baggy blue jeans and battered black boots. Their head was down, hands in their coat pockets, and walking slowly toward the store. At first Liam thought it was just a another homeless person looking for a place to rest, but Hood River didn't have too many homeless people. Liam felt his eyes widen as he recognized this person as the same figure that had been standing on the wall of the parking garage. The same person that had looked like they were going to kill him. The figure picked up his head ever so slightly and Liam noticed that Glasgow grin that had burned itself in the back of his head.

Doris, Liam blessed her heart, pulled him back to reality, "Something wrong, dear?"

Liam snapped his head back down to her and forced himself to smile, "Nothing's wrong ma'am. Just thought I saw a stray cat."

Doris wasn't buying his lie for a second, "You're pale, dear, you look like you had just seen a ghost."

"I'm alright," Liam lied again. It pained him to lie to someone as sweet as Doris, "really, I'm fine."

Doris furrowed her brow, still not buying his act, "Alright then, you take it easy Liam. You don't want to go into shock from working so hard."

"I wouldn't want that," Liam feigned humor as he quickly shut the trunk of Doris' car and spun the cart back toward the store. He wanted to get back inside away from that person slowly getting closer to them as soon as he could, "You have a good day now, Doris." Liam waved goodbye and speed-walked back to the store. The person was still walking toward the store behind him.

Liam stopped to pick up a wayward cart that someone didn't take the time to put back in a corral. Just as he did, he saw the figure standing in front of him, they had stopped suddenly as if they were about to run into someone. Their face was downcast, so Liam couldn't see their face. Liam nearly jumped three feet in the air at their sudden appearance. How did he not hear them?

"Sorry about that, man." The person said. Their voice was low and raspy, like they had a sore throat or laryngitis.

"N-no worries." Liam stuttered. He stared after the person as they entered the store and disappeared from his view. Shaking his head probably for the tenth time that day, Liam regained his grip on the carts and reentered the store, placing the carts back in line near the sliding door. He resumed his position at the checkout line where Derek was manning the register. No one was in the line at the moment, so Derek had time to chat to Liam for at least a couple minutes.

Derek cast one look at Liam and almost stepped back in shock, "Damn Liam, you were only supposed to take Doris' groceries out to her car, not nearly get hit by a Hummer."

Liam offered Derek a fake laugh, "Yeah, sorry, I was bringing in another cart and wasn't looking where I was going. I nearly walked right into someone backing up."

Derek laughed at Liam's sudden clumsiness, "Be more careful next time, I can't afford to lose you. You're faster than the majority of courtesy clerks employed at this joint." Both Derek and Liam laughed and resumed their work as another customer came by with a basket full of farm fresh fruits and vegetables.

Nearby, a person was standing by the apples, casually picking one up and inspecting it for nothing at all. The same, raspy voice was heard only by the owner.

"Stage one: denial."


	3. Day Three

**Day Three**

"You okay Liam?"

Liam jerked his head up. He looked around the classroom before looking to his long-time friend Johnny. They had been friends since grammar school, and stuck with each in the best and worst of times, they had even moved out to Hood River together. Johnny could always tell when something was wrong with Liam, so there was no point in lying.

Liam let out an exasperated sigh, "I just haven't been sleeping well, I keep thinking that someone's watching me."

Johnny smirked and shook his head, "Stalker, maybe?" Liam knew that Johnny was only joking, but he couldn't help but think that this was what was happening. Either someone really _was_ stalking him with a malicious intent, or this was just an elaborate long term prank. It scared him all the same though.

"I think it might be." Liam lowered his voice so no one else would hear about his situation.

Johnny's smile fell from his face, suddenly worried for his friend, "Do you know what they look like? Shit Liam, this is bad. Call the police next time you see them."

"All I know is that they look homeless, and how many people do you know fit that requirement? Especially during December." Liam quietly snapped at his friend. "It's freezing outside, people are going to start dressing in baggier clothes to keep themselves warm, even the cops." Liam ran both his hands down his face in frustration. It had only been a couple of days since his first encounter with this stalker and he was already getting freaked out. This had never happened to him before, he didn't know how to react. Hell, he didn't even know if this person was male or female.

Johnny was taken aback by his friend's sudden anger, "Just go to the police station and file a report. They will definitely look into it a lot more than they usually do, ever since that creepy sumbitch came to town and started scaring the living daylights out of everyone."

Liam sighed, "I guess you're right Johnny, I just don't want to feel as if I'm drawing unnecessary attention to myself, you know?"

Johnny smacked Liam upside the head, nearly causing him to drop the sample of plant cells he was holding onto the floor. The teacher looked up suspiciously at the pair and glared, as if daring them to do something else stupid. Johnny and Liam smiled stupidly in silent apology and looked back down at their in-class project.

"It's _not_ unnecessary attention, Lee." Johnny harshly whispered, "You're being stalked by someone, and I'm not saying it's the same criminal, but the police will take a look at your situation. No doubts. Don't be stupid."

"Alright, alright, I'll go to the station." Liam whispered with annoyance lacing his hushed tone. He didn't want to talk about this matter anymore, he mentally wished that Johnny had dropped the subject when the instructor glared at them.

Johnny moved his arm to pat Liam on the back, but thought better of the brotherly action when he glanced up at the instructor who had resumed glaring at them, only this time for talking about trivial matters instead of focusing on analyzing the substances. Johnny pursed his lips in a thin line and his arm fell back to his side. Liam had to bite his lower lip suppress a laugh so they wouldn't get in any more trouble.

The class ended, and Liam was sitting with Johnny in the commons, talking about their plans for the weekend. As per usual, Liam was planning on wandering around in the woods and had asked Johnny if he wanted to go with him.

Johnny shook his head in disappointment, "Man I wish I could Liam, but my grandparents are coming to town and my mom told me that I had to be there since I hadn't seen them since Christmas last year."

Liam shook his head and waved his hand in dismissal, "No worries, I think I can manage. Maybe I can drag one of my coworkers with me."

Johnny laughed lightly, "Alright, just be careful. Don't need you going and getting yourself kidnapped by some weirdo and be locked up in their house."

"Did you just describe my fate if I run into my stalker, or the opening plot of _Misery_?" Liam laughed.

"Both." Johnny said with a wide grin on his face, "Because it'll end up the same either way." The two friends shared a laughing fit until a young woman approached them, looking a little worried. Neither Johnny nor Liam knew this girl, and she wasn't in any of their classes as far as they knew. Liam looked up just in time to see the girl standing by the coffee table holding a crumpled piece of paper.

"Excuse me," she started, "but are you Liam Anderson?"

Liam's internal organs shot up into his throat. How did she know his name? He had never met this girl in his life. Liam looked her over, she was wearing baggy clothes...maybe _she_ was his stalker. It was likely, this stalker was someone he had never met before. What about those eyes and grin, though? Makeup, Liam told himself, anyone can buy makeup. The fact that she knew his name and wore similar clothing to his stalker sent his brain into overdrive.

The girl spoke again before Liam could answer her question. "Someone told me to give this to you." She held out the crumpled paper. It looked like it had been in the trash for a while and someone came along and fished it out. Liam didn't want to take it, for all he knew it could be from his stalker telling him that it was going to kill him sometime in the next few days. The girl also said indirectly she didn't know who it was, was the stalker _here_? Were they _in the building_? Liam almost visibly shuddered thinking about it. There's no way though. Ever since October when this stalker-person came around they've been posting extra campus security guards at every entrance and exit. Officials had even enacted the use of campus IDs so that everyone without one would be stopped at the door and asked to leave the premises. Only students and employees were given IDs, and they had been sent in the mail to avoid any fabrication.

Liam was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he didn't even notice Johnny stepping in to save him from embarrassment, "Sorry, he's a little wired. He has to go to work at three in the morning."

"Oh, okay." The girl smiled and nodded in understanding, "That's fine, he just looked like I was about to kill him. It was a little weird." And with that, the girl left to go sit with her friends.

Johnny smacked Liam's arm, "The hell is up with you?"

Liam only glared in reply.

Johnny childishly stuck out his tongue and began unfolding the paper. His eyes darted from side to side as he read through whatever was written on his side, pretty soon he grinned and broke out in another fit of laughter.

"Oh my _God,_ Liam!" Johnny gasped out in between laughs, he wiped a growing tear in his eye away before addressing the now very confused and somewhat angry Liam, "It's a love letter, someone's just asking you out for a date." Johnny collapsed into another fit of laughter as he passed the note to Liam.

It was, indeed, a love letter. Liam was surprised, there he was worrying that it would be a death threat from his stalker, but now that he read through the letter three times, it was just a rather nervous girl asking him if he wanted to go see a movie or have dinner with her on the weekend. Sure, he didn't necessarily know the person that wanted him to read this, and the girl that delivered it didn't say who it was from, but Liam was relieved all the same by the fact that it wasn't his stalker sending him some obscene or obscure threat. Liam sighed and leant back into his chair, relieved that he was able to keep his sanity at least for another day.

Johnny saw the change in his friend's behavior and asked, "You thought it was going to be your stalker, huh?"

Liam nodded, "I just remembered that the main guy that the cops are after right now sometimes sent vague notes to their victims, I was worried that I was next." To be truthful, Liam was still very worried that his stalker might be the one the police are after.

"Don't worry, dude." Johnny said, "So long as you're here, and you keep your doors locked in your apartment, nothing's going to happen. Guaranteed." He stood up and clapped a hand on his best friend's shoulder, "I hate to leave you now _Casanova,_ But I've got a math class I need to get to. See you around, buddy."

"Alright, later." Liam waved goodbye to Johnny as the latter jogged off into the hallway, rushing to get to his next class on time. Liam didn't have any other classes that day, but he was waiting in the commons with Johnny just so that he'd had someone to talk to while he was waiting. When Johnny disappeared from his sight, Liam grabbed his backpack and headed out the door into the parking lot, not having a care in the world at the moment.

Walking across the parking lot, a wind chill sent a massive shiver down Liam's spine. He pulled his coat tighter around himself to fight against it. "Damn cold." Liam grumbled as he picked up his pace toward his car. Once he had found his vehicle he all but dove inside in the effort the shorten the time that the inside was exposed to the bitter winter chill. Refraining his teeth from chattering, Liam stuck his key in the ignition and started the car. The heater kicked on just as the engine roared to life, immediately dousing Liam in warm air. He rubbed his arms through his coat sleeves in an effort to speed up the warming process.

"I should probably get to the station now, get that shit out of the way." Liam muttered to himself, "That way I can go home and relax for the rest of the evening." He twisted around and pulled his seatbelt over to the buckle. As he looked up to the horizon to see if any cars were coming before putting his own car in drive, he saw something that he really wished he hadn't.

That damn person from yesterday and two days ago was in front of his car a few dozen feet away, leaning on another student's car. Their hands were in their trademark position; deep within the person's coat pockets, and the person was dressed in the same manner that they were yesterday and the day before. Only this time the person's hood was down, revealing a wild and unkempt mane of hair. In the hood's place a worn, moth eaten scarf was wrapped around their neck and covering their mouth. The wind picked up and the person tensed against the sudden chill. Liam felt his heart rate quicken as the person looked up slightly, staring straight at him. The wind tore through the parking lot once more and the mysterious stalker tensed again, a grimace forming on their face as they fought the cold. Liam sat there in his car for a while, almost curious at what they might do next but mostly shocked and afraid of how they managed to find him.

The wind picked up its ferocity once more and the person had had enough of the biting cold that shook their form every thirty seconds. They moved their arms, and at first Liam was afraid that they might pull out a knife and charge at his car, the scene that unfolded in front of him was much worse, however.

He could see their hands as the person lifted them up to grasp their hood and pull it over their head. The person wasn't wearing gloves, after all, how could they when they had obscenely long fingernails? They didn't look like fingernails to Liam, though. No, they were much thicker and looked as if they had been filed to a sharp and pointed tip. The person's fingernails looked like claws, claws of some kind of beast. Liam suddenly became aware that he was short of breath, and not only that but his heart was racing at unheard of speeds. He quickly threw his car into drive and sped out of his parking space, nearly crashing into another driver that had pulled out seconds before him. The other driver honked their horn in both surprise and anger at Liam's rash actions, and made a rude gesture with his hands directed to him. Liam was too focused on getting off the campus and to the police station.

Liam stopped at the stop sign at the exit of the parking lot and impatiently waited for an opening where he can dart out onto the main road and speed off to the station and back home. Paranoid that the person was following his car, Liam looked in all of his mirrors and sure enough there was the stalker, making their way toward the same exit. Liam nervously tapped his steering wheel, silently praying that the stalker wouldn't come anywhere near his car. No criminal in their right mind would strike at this time of day when so many other students were heading home after a day's worth of classes and when campus police are monitoring the parking lot and every entrance into the buildings. Liam stared in his rearview mirror that his stalker, willing them to not come anywhere near his car. No one else seemed to notice the suspicious person, most of them thought it was just another student who was unfortunate enough to not have a ride home and had to walk however many miles in the cold. Liam saw though, he knew what this person, this _thing_, really was.

Just as Liam was about to pull out of the campus, he saw the stalker do something remarkable. Still looking in the rearview mirror, he saw the thing leap up into a tree, and using the animal-like claws he had seen earlier, easily scaled its way up into the canopy away from prying eyes and Liam's field of vision. Liam pulled out onto the main road and began to reflect on what he just saw. It was so strange, he had never seen someone scale a tree that large that quickly, he also had never seen anyone jump higher than two feet unless they were an NBA player, and even they couldn't jump as high as that thing did. It must've jumped at least four - no, six - feet into the air before digging its claws into the bark and climbing up. _What was this thing stalking him!?_

Back at the college campus, the stalker leaned against one of the limbs of the tree grinning like a sadistic ghoul. Flexing its hand to work against any potential soreness gained from the strenuous activity it had just done. It watched Liam Anderson's car speed away toward the highway, his plans of going to the police station to file a report long forgotten. The stalker picked out some bark from underneath one of their claws and said in a voice only they could hear.

"This is getting interesting," A raspy voice declared, "I've never had someone get to Stage Two so quickly before. This is gonna be fun."

With those as their famous last words, the thing waited until the parking lot was free of stray students, security guards, and pedestrians before jumping down from the tree. As soon as the thing's feet hit the ground, it started running in the direction of Liam Anderson's apartment.

A raspy, insane cackle was all that would've been heard.


End file.
